1
Time is tick, tick, ticking away. How many souls will I capture today? Will they be a challenge or will they be given? Only time will tell as the clock keeps tick, tick, ticking. Your god has arrived with enough hatred for y’all, with enough evil for the big and small, so come one, come all. I will shred your souls and place them in my satchel, call you a settler and make you my peddler. Come one, come all, come stand behind your god. I will lead you into the darkness of Earth's end. Come one, come all, my wilted flowers, come claim your title, speak out and cheer it. Come one, come all, let’s have a ball, my wilted flowers . Sweet, Unconquerable Spirits. .A.K. Kuykendall
2
Your hair is like butterflies, ” Sebastian said, giggling like a child.“ That’s nice, ” Firen said impatiently. “Keep moving.”“ Fantastic. I always like my days better with a touch of insanity, ” Gabriella quipped.Laura Kreitzer
3
Burn wounds always elicited pain more terrible than anything else he had ever endured. He didn’t relish the idea of forcing himself to suffer through such agony. But it was necessary. Earth depended on them taking possession of the key. “It’s the only way out, ” Andrew reminded him.“ I understand that, but–”“ The trials we have faced thus far have been minimal, ” Andrew said, cutting off Sebastian’s retort. “What we seek is the key to the universe. You didn’t expect it to be easy, did you?.Laura Kreitzer
4
What are you doing?” Egnatious asked, eyebrows furrowed as he watched Gabriella do a flip. Firen mimicked Gabriella and turned to Egnatious. “Fun times. Go with it.” She didn’t even crack a smile, though her body language said she was laughing on the inside. Instead of following their act, Egnatious simply dove for an outcrop just as it began moving away. He nearly lost his balance, but Firen caught his flailing arms.“ Are you having a seizure or something?” she jested, displaying a rare vein of humor. Egnatious sent her a queasy glare. .Laura Kreitzer
5
I think I found your vampire, ” Andrew said, except this time he wasn’t so amused. However, Gabriella was, her smile huge as she laughed, the sound a trill in the densely packed cold air.“ You think this is funny?” The words came out surly, but Andrew couldn’t stop his lips from twitching over her amusement.“ I thought they’d be bigger, ” she said, stifling another round of giggles. “Are you okay?”“ Just a flesh wound.Laura Kreitzer
6
He strained his ears, and the darkness felt heavier than before. Oppressive.“We’re hungry.” That came from behind him.“ They smell tasty, ” a voice to his left hissed.“ I don’t like this, ” Andrew said, feeling like the world around them was spinning with voices, taunting, echoing them.“ I don’t like this, ” a voice parroted. “I don’t like this. I don’t like this. I don’t like this.Laura Kreitzer
7
The Ferryman will transport us across the moat, ” Chris informed. “Yeah. This seems legit, ” Gabriella quipped as Chris helped her onto the boat. Andrew followed behind.“ Are you sure this isn’t a trick?” Egnatious asked. Again, uncertainty filtered into Chris’s blue eyes, but he nodded anyway. “This is the only way.Laura Kreitzer
8
Where are you taking me?” Andrew demanded, whirling on the Ferryman. His muscles tensed, hands curling in and out of fists.“ To my master.” The voice was ghostly, whispers of black ash and death, words cold and detached. He had an idea who that was but asked anyway: “And who is your master?” No answer came. Andrew’s insatiable rage rose up and swallowed his grief like a yawning ocean mouth, the darkest depths surging to the surface to form a mighty tidal wave. He closed the distance and seized the Ferryman’s gaunt wrist. There was no substance, no life beneath the cloak. The Ferryman slowly turned his hooded head, and Andrew found himself looking into the black hole of a self-contained night. The olfactory of decay was a punch in the face. Andrew released the Ferryman’s wrist and hastily stepped back, rocking the boat as he put distance between him and the unnatural wind spilling from the gaping orifice. Andrew shivered, the tiny hairs on his neck saluting. The cloaked head faced forward again, and the wind died away.Laura Kreitzer
9
An ear-splitting screech pierced the silence, followed by another, striking his ears like metal against a hollow bell. The woosh woosh of wind being displaced brought Andrew’s attention skyward, and a glacial gust of paralyzing terror raced up his spine. The creature opened its mouth, and a blazing shaft of fire bellowed from above. Andrew barely had enough time to back beneath an awning for protection. Egnatious and Sebastian dove to the side while Firen sidestepped her impending doom, raising the katana in challenge. The screeching returned, except now the howls were coming from every direction. Firen’s chest heaved. “Did you see that?” she asked, her stormy eyes glinting with rapture and daring as she held her katana out, preparing for the next attack.“ Did I see the dragon?” Sebastian asked, hysteria dangerously rising to the surface. He stood and brushed himself off. “Yes, I bloody well did see that enormous, scaly, fire-breathing dragon. .Laura Kreitzer
10
If the loving ones look on magic as evil then the evil doers shall win. For you are turning your back on the life forces themselves, and you shall be weakened by your fear, thirsting for the elixir. Those who would do evil do not fear the forces, they consume the elixir unabated. They are not living in fear of themselves.Tamara Rendell
11
This woman was consuming him, bit by bit. She was becoming the reason and the reward of his existence, and if he did not shield himself, everything he did not have to give would belong to her.Danielle Monsch
12
I don’t do magic. I turn your attention back to Friday night and the big-ass sword I was carrying. My job is to run and swing.Danielle Monsch
13
He who writes is the martyr, seen through the eyes of the unassuming doll.A.K. Kuykendall
14
Part of her wanted to comfort him, to tell him everything was going to be okay. But the rest of her just wanted to throw him to the ground and rip those jeans off him. Funny how she could be so jealous of a pair of pants. They covered the sinfully male body she longed to explore.Rosalie Lario
15
Okay, what in Hades just happened? Stones don’t glow blue or any other color and they certainly don’t burn circles on you.” The stone wasn’t talking. Alexandra considered herself well grounded, yet here she stood, talking to a stone that glowed, burned circles, and refused to answer. A thread of sensation pricked at the edges of her mind, then grew stronger. It mirrored an idea then became c.H.H. Laura
16
I suppose he could be the mole, ” Shannon said. “What with his being completely insane and all.C.T. Phipps
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No one is nothing. Everyone has a place and a purpose. Some choose their purpose and others have it thrust upon them but no one is useless. Everyone is someone. The world has use for us all.E.J. Divitt
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Remember when being a villain was all about wild nights and brawls in the street?Drew Hayes